Trivia night ‘filler activity’ idea #1: Spaghetti Tower
Trivia Night Games
Here’s a fun ‘mini fundraiser’ that can be used in between ’rounds’ on a trivia night or throughout the evening at a gala event. Including short activities & trivia night games are often a good ice-breaker and sometimes quite hilarious.
The ‘Spaghetti Tower’ game: each team will pay a certain amount ($5 or 10 is usually a good amount) to receive a spaghetti construction kit consisting of a small bunch of uncooked spaghetti sticks (perhaps a quarter of a packet) and a roll of sticky tape.
You might want to make it a limit of one kit per table (good for laughs and groups that don’t know each other) or simply whoever wants to form their own small team (good for raising the most money).
Give everyone 5 minutes and say there are no rules, but the highest free-standing tower at the end of 5 minutes wins.
I have done this against an opposing team that included a couple of engineers and we were paralysed by all the ‘genius’. No surprises… we lost badly!
If you are particularly aggressive with your fundraising target on the night, an option is to sell ‘cheat centimetres’. Somebody very ambitious (or in high spirits) might be very willing to purchase extra height at $10 per centimetre!
Also, being a loyal Fundraising Directory follower, I’m sure your sponsorship team will have organised the donation of a bunch of fantastic prizes to make certain your profits stay where they should.
Originally published May 15, 2014
Mandy Weidmann is Australia’s ‘Fundraising Whisperer’ – publisher of the Fundraising Directory and author of the Practical Fundraising Handbook for School and Club Volunteers. Mandy believes that parent volunteers shouldn’t have to reinvent the wheel all the time and is passionate about providing resources to make fundraising easier (and more fun). Click here to learn more about school and club fundraising ideas in Australia.
You might also be interested in:
- 25 All-Time Best Fundraising Ideas
- What ‘extras’ have been successful at trivia style events?
- 5 Cent Drive
- Thanking Volunteers
